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Columns::September 3, 2002
Three are named GUC undergraduate program directors
New NSF pilot project will produce ‘gene encyclopedias’
‘Bridges to the Doctorate’ NIH grant will support graduate education of minority students at UGA
Chick-fil-A hold grand opening at Tate Student Center
Mountain ecologist is appointed international education director
Managers complete training; Research Fellows announced
Campus Closeup
Writing wrongs
Retirees
Newsmakers
The Honduras Connection
Campus News
The burden of care
Study shows mothers’ depression affects children’s well-being
By Phil Williams
phil@franklin.uga.edu
Children with chronically painful illnesses are frequently depressed, as anyone might expect. The problems for young people facing such diseases as cancer or rheumatoid arthritis are complex, but how their mothers feel about themselves may play an
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| Gail Williamson of the psychology department worked with colleagues David Shaffer from UGA and Andrew Walters from Hobart and William Smith Colleges on the current study. (Photo by Peter Frey) |
important role in their children’s well-being.
That’s one finding in a study of 59 chronically ill children, led by psychologist Gail Williamson and published this past summer in the journal Health Psychology.
“This is one of the first studies that brings many of the pieces together to see how children who experience chronic pain deal with their illness,” says Williamson, “and it points toward new ways for helping both mothers and children cope.”
Past studies have shown that the protracted burden of care combined with ambiguity about the future take a tremendous toll on sick children and their parents. The severity of children’s illness, however, is only modestly related to how well the children cope, and other researchers have suggested that the adaptation of children to their pain may depend, in large part, on how their caregivers adjust.
This study, by Williamson and David Shaffer of UGA and Andrew Walters of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, shows that children of well-adjusted and supportive parents are less depressed by the pain they experience. The finding could point the way toward showing mothers prone to depression that, by helping themselves, they are helping their children.
Walters, who earned his doctoral degree at the University of Georgia, interviewed chronically ill children and their mothers at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. The participants were part of a larger study. The children were 18 years of age or younger, were in outpatient therapy for a painful chronic disorder, were willing to provide verbal or written comments and were not under the influence of narcotics.
The mean age of patients was 11.6 years; most were boys (64 percent) and African-American (56 percent). The children suffered from diseases such as sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, cancer and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. The sample of caregivers included 55 biological mothers and four grandmothers with legal guardianship.
“Our data reaffirmed earlier studies that show those caregivers with insecure attachment styles don’t deal with stress as well as others,” says Williamson.
To say the issue is complex is perhaps not strong enough--in years past, it has seemed intractable. Most character traits are developed early in life, and it is extremely difficult to change stable character traits such as life-long depressive tendencies. Still, the study suggests that children may benefit if social or medical workers can determine early on which caregivers are likely to adjust poorly to their children’s chronic pain and target these individuals for appropriate interventions.
It is becoming clearer through many studies that mothers of sick children often need better coping skills and ways to relieve depression. Crucial aspects, according to this new study, are the ways mothers view themselves and others.
Giving mothers ways to achieve stable dispositions and positive outlooks could manifestly help their children, it appears. (Very few studies have been done to see how the emotional health of fathers or male caregivers affects the well-being of chronically ill children, because the sample available is so small.)
One thing is clear from the present study and others: stable social support--a network of family and friends--makes caring for a chronically ill child far easier for mothers. Those who try to “handle it on their own” may be missing psychological help if they don’t use family and friends to share the burden.
The problem is that less secure mothers or caregivers may not feel that other people will respond to their requests for help.
While this study points the way toward further research, it also serves to remind caregivers that children--especially those in pain--are tremendously affected by their mothers’ emotions and the ways that they attempt to cope with a difficult, upsetting situation. |
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